Letter of Support

Jimmie W. Rogers
Rogers Realty
5000 Roberts Lake Rd, Ste B
Rohnert Park, Ca
94928

December 10th, 2007
Re: School Closures


Board of Trustees
Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District
5860 Labath Avenue
Rohnert Park, Ca. 94928


Dear Rohnert Park Cotati School Board and Superintendent Vrankovich:

I support the original vision of the city of Rohnert Park. I believe that our schools should be at the nucleus of our community, and I support the efforts of those who are trying to preserve that ideal. Closing schools is not supportive to our children or our community.

I feel that closing two additional schools in our district is counteractive to the goals of both our school district and the city of Rohnert Park. Closing schools will result in a community that is fragmented and not invested in itself. Growth in our community is an inevitable reality, but closing schools discourages growth, limiting our capacity for a successful future. Overcrowded schools will lessen the sense of community that our district architecture currently fosters.

Keeping schools open will provide ample opportunities for growth and new programs in the future of the school district. It also sends the message to our community that Rohnert Park is committed to the small town feel that was part of the city’s inception. Keeping schools open shows that we believe in our future success and we are invested in a vision that will make our goals a reality. It gives us room to become the quality district and community that we are capable of being.

While I am aware of the financial concern that the district is facing, I do not believe that closing schools is the answer. Please take the time to look at proactive solutions to the short term problem before making this decision. As both La Fiesta and Gold Ridge are projected to have increased enrollment in 08/09, a delay of one year will not be an undue financial burden on the district. It would give you time to coordinate with parents and community leaders to come up with an alternative solution that can be seen by the community as a positive step toward a better future for the district.

Sincerely,

Jimmie W. Rogers

The Numbers

As I was looking over all of the numbers on the various presentations we have seen I noticed something that just didn't seem right. If the district has a Net Loss of $106,875 for every thirty students that they lose at the elementary school level wouldn't the reverse be the case as well? Meaning that after paying for the teacher and classroom costs they would have $106, 875 for every thirty students to go towards the costs of running the school. The $304,000 or $312,000 as the maintenance money was lowered by 10%, that is required for admin and site costs at each school would be covered by a mere 90 students. Where does the rest of the money go? I did the math, warning these numbers are quite astounding and upsetting.

Current Totals for All Elementary Schools

2924 Total Enrollment = 2801 ADA (ADA is approx. 95.8%)
2801 x 5778.42 = $16,186,354.42

$57,810 = Average Cost Per Classroom (Teacher & Supplies as per presentaion)
x 134 = Total Elementary Classrooms in Use (as per school closure matrix)

$7,746,540 = Total Elementary School Classroom Costs

$304,000 Admin & Site Costs less 10% (as per community forum presentation)
+ $8,000 Additional 10% Maintenance for an operating Elementary School
Total = $312,000 Total Elementary School Site Costs

$312,000 Site Costs
x 8 Current Elementary Schools
Total = $2,496,000 Total Admin and Site Costs for all Elementary Schools

$7,746,540 Total Classroom Costs for All Elementary Schools
+ $2,496,000 Total Site Costs for All Elementary Schools
Total = $10,242,540

$16,185,354.42 Total ADA Revenue at Elementary Level
- $10,242,540.00 Total Average Costs at Elementary Level

Total Excess ADA Revenue = $5,942,814.42

I am sure that some of these costs are actually higher as we do have teachers and administrators that make more than these averages, but that can not possibly be so high as to take up the nearly six million dollars that remains. That leaves an average of $2,032.43 that is given in ADA on a per pupil basis that is not being spent on those pupils.

I ran these same numbers using next years projected enrollment, # of classrooms, and 6 schools. The numbers end up with a difference of $6,208,552.38 and $2,171.58 left over per student. Which means that they will be having an additional excess of $139.15 per student at the Elementary School level.

Jennifer Chesley

Don't Give Up!

"In December 2005, a group of parents of pre-preschool age children rallied fellow residents of their Potrero Hill neighborhood to save Daniel Webster (DW) Elementary School from closure and subsequent merger with Starr King in a remote part of the community. Working in parallel with the school’s administration and population, this dedicated group of parents gathered over 600 signatures opposing the proposed merger. The parents group presented the Board of Education with compelling demographic information detailing the dramatic influx of middle class families in Potrero Hill over the past five years as well as the projected growth in housing and population in the city’s woefully underserved Southeast sector.
They reached out to every member of the Board of Education, developed a website with updated information for the community to access, and caught the attention of the city’s major media outlets (a feature on ABC News; a front page story in the SF Chronicle, as well as coverage on various local radio programs). Their hard work was rewarded in that the Board of Education unanimously voted against the merger."

http://www.prefund.org/the-story-behind-prefund

Candlelight Vigil Tonight

There is a school board meeting at Creekside Middle School tonight, December 11th, at 7:00PM. The Candlelight Vigil will take place at 6:00. Please join us and help us send a message to the school board that we are not giving up! Tell your friends!

Be nice...please

I would like to politely request that people on all sides of this issue kindly refrain from name-calling and insults on this blog. This is an emotional issue, and we all have strong feelings about it. Please continue to post your comments in a respectful manner- different ideas and viewpoints are welcome, but insults are not going to convince anyone of anything. Let's remember that we all care about our children and we all care about our schools, no matter what our opinions on school closures may be. Thank You and Happy Holidays.
--
Jen Stevens

The Real Message

It is a shame that after hours of public comments, media attention and public outcry the message still seems unclear. We don't want a school to close, we don't want ANY school to close. There is a fundamental difference. All of the CRPUSD schools have wonderful teachers, students, parents and programs. I have no doubt that if our children had to change schools they would be welcomed with open arms and adapt as they do at the beginning of every new school year with new teachers and new classmates. As you can see from other information on the blog, there is ample evidence to suggest that smaller school sizes benefit everyone. The issues associated with increasing student populations to 500-600 on a campus impacts everyone in the community including office personnel, teachers, crossing guards, yard supervisors, lunch workers, custodians not to mention people who simply live on a street leading to schools with hundreds of additional cars driving there at least twice a day. This is not just an issue for Gold Ridge and La Fiesta.
In addition, I have attended every meeting on this issue and at no time have I heard any speaker request program cuts. The district raised the premise of cutting sports, music and libraries and the tactic appears to have worked. It has divided a group that should be united. I have heard parents suggest that declining enrollment appears to be a short term problem requiring a short term solution. Closing schools is not a short term solution when the two year cost is close to a million dollars in capital funding to save $600,000 in the general fund. It is a reaction not a solution.
I have heard speakers ask the board not to rush to judgement. I have heard speakers suggest that perhaps the enrollment issue is not as dire as it appears to be. Information from the University Plan EIP suggest more elementary age children than the district is forecasting. The Sonoma County Health Department records show that birth rates have remained not only steady but increased slightly in 2002. Data from the National Center for Educational Statistics show that although there has been a recent decrease in elementary enrollment they anticipate slightly increased rates through 2014. Lower housing prices means more affordability for families. I have heard speakers ask for another year to look at increasing our ADA rates which are based on a thirty year old proposition that no longer fits the times. I have heard speakers ask for time to look at private donations, magnet schools, charter schools and a variety of other options. I have never heard a speaker stand at the podium and ask to cut music, band, sports, libraries or any other enrichment program.
Every parent in the district knew that school closures were an item of consideration for the district office. If the Superintendent's statements that no particular schools had been identified are true, then this was a community concern. Whether Gold Ridge ignored it may be an item of personal opinion. Over the last few years Gold Ridge has enhanced their academic support services, significantly increased test scores, attracts one of the highest numbers of intra-district transfers and had the highest attendance rates in the district last year. In my opinion, this actually added value. Ask any real estate agent how they respond to buyer questions about schools and they will tell you they refer them to the state's STAR testing data. It was disgraceful to hear the leader of our educational organization downplay the achievements of improved test scores. Intra-district transfers is ADA money that comes from outside of our boundaries. And as we all know so well now, ADA is attendance based and the majority of our general fund. High attendance equals more money. What Gold Ridge may be at fault for is not realizing the Superintendent would focus almost exclusively on the structure, the carpet, walls and roof instead of the system within it. If a homeowner didn't adequately maintain their house for 20 years I have no doubt it would be virtually uninhabitable. Perhaps if equal amounts of the capital improvement and deferred maintenance budgets had been allocated over the last 20 years the building would be in the same condition as the community functioning within it.
To end as I began, this issue affects us all. I truly believe the Board of Trustees does not want to close elementary schools and is open to listening to options. I believe that waiting a year, which does not put us in deficit, and exploring all other avenues and verifying all projected numbers will allow everyone to make fully informed decisions. And lastly, because I believe in what we are hoping to accomplish as a community, I will sign my name.
Jodie Palmigiano

I thought everyone who spoke at last night's district meeting did a great job. I've always been proud to be a Gold Ridge parent, and I'm overwhelmed by the outpouring of support that so many parents and staff have displayed. I'm getting teary-eyed just typing this, just as I did last night when each of you spoke (especially when Connie Holbrook's name was called, and almost every GR teacher and Karen Gomez came to the podium). I got a little choked up while speaking myself -- one reason I had to keep my speech very brief. Thank you to all of you for the hours and hours and days and days you've devoted to the Save Gold Ridge campaign. You're all using your LIFE SKILL of PERSEVERANCE! What great examples you are to your children (not to mention the GR community and beyond). I think we have a chance, especially in light of some of the questions the board members posed at the end of the meeting. I hope that's not too naive. Keep up the good fight!

Claire Mesagno

New Developments will bring more students...

According to the University District Specific Plan (Table 6), that development is projected to generate 435 K-5 students, 221 6-8 students, and 258 High School students, for a total of 950 students. Most of those students will be generated in locations that are already within the CRPUSD school boundary. The rest are currently in the Bellvue or Santa Rosa districts, but according to the Specific Plan, the developer will “coordinate with the City and CRPUSD on the request to have the entire project located in the CRPUSD school boundary.”

According to Dr. Vrancovich, the district can only expect 0.67 students from new developments.

950 students or 0.67 students???? Which is the correct number?

To see the University Specific Plan go to
http://www.rpcity.org/component/option,com_docman/task,cat_view/gid,138/Itemid,45/

Community Vitality and School Buildings

Research has also confirmed that public schools affect communities and their economic strength (Weiss 2004). Schools influence the reputation, quality of life, and vitality of neighborhoods. Conversely, the quality, vitality, and support of a neighborhood affects local schools. Because school facility improvements mean an influx of capital dollars into a neighborhood, there is great potential to positively impact that community. Evidence increasingly supports the following:
■ School quality has a direct and positive impact on residential property values (Kane et al. 2003);
■ School quality helps determine a localities' quality of life and can affect the ability of an area to attract businesses and workers (Salveson and Renski 2002);
■ Investments in the construction and maintenance of school facilities inject money into local economies through job creation and supply purchases (Economics Center for Education and Research 2003);
■ New or well-maintained school facilities can help revitalize distressed neighborhoods (Local Government Commission 2002);
■ The activities that occur in and around school buildings can help build neighborhood social capital and affect student achievement (Blank et al. 2003).
Page 8 Building Education Success Together -- BEST
http://www.edfacilities.org/pubs/GrowthandDisparity.pdf

Inspiration

Ok, here's some inspiration for all that think it can't be done. This group did it!! Read this article from Salt Lake City. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20051110/ai_n15845217/pg_1
Quotes from this article include, "If neighborhood schools close, neighborhoods die." and "The other thing that happened, is, . . . a lot of support (emerged) for neighborhood schools." and during a break just before midnight, board members wondered, "What did we just do?" Cannon said. "We just sacrificed a school for $300,000 (in annual operation cost savings)?"

Clarification to aha moment

I want to clarify that I am in no way suggesting that we close Waldo Rohnert. I am arguing that by closing 2 schools and congesting the others even more so, we are compounding Waldo Rohnerts problem and making failure hard to avoid. The ripple effect from this will cause WR to go into PI, costing the district up to 16million dollars. If we can all rememember the kicker to closing gold ridge was because of a cost of approx 3mil to rennovate the portables. Well, compared to 16mil to bring wr up to par, thats chump change. Our focus is on not closing any of the schools but rather what we can do to keep them all open.

Awesome Parents

Wow! I knew we had awesome parents but now I know we have the best parents ever. Thank you to everyone that has helped out in any way. It is an honor to teach at Gold Ridge. I can't imagine a better community, staff, or school.

Mandy Olivares

ah ha! MOMENT!

Okay, I think I've stumbled across something rather big! As we all know schools are subject to API scores, and we all know that Gold Ridge passed with flying colors. There is also another test that schools are subject to put in place by the No Child Left Behind Act. This one is called the AYP Test, (Adequate Yearly Performance). I've never heard of this one before and I don't know if any of you have. I've discovered that we do have 4 Title 1 schools in our district which are Waldo Rohnert, La Fiesta, John Reed and Thomas Page. While all schools are subject to this same test, only Title 1 schools are held accountable. If a school does not pass AYP for 2 consecutive years they are then put into a program called "Program Improvement". A school identified for PI must notify its parents and guardians about its PI status and offer certain types of required services during each year that it is a PI school. In the first year parents and guardians are eligible to send their children to a non-PI school and to receive transportation at school district expense. Also, the school must revise its school plan within three months. In the second year all the first year stuff applies as well as providing supplemental services, such as tutoring, available to all eligible students. And it just gets worse financially from there. In order to come out of "PI Status", the school must pass Ayp for 2 consecutive years.

There is just one school in our district that did not pass AYP in 2007 and that is Waldo Rohnert. Where are all those parents who elect to take their kids out of that school going to put them if all of our other schools are at capacity? How much money is it going to cost the school district to get this school back up to standards? The list of financial obligations that goes along with this is endless. It's just unbelievable to think that they would elect to keep a school like this open with PI being almost eminent and to close a perfectly good school with passion and pride and not to mention passing API and AYP scores to boot!

Update for Rebuttal Committee

I was looking over the School Closure Matrix on the District Site when I realized that the School Summary Rankings or score do not match from one slide to the next. The Bar Graph showing the Summary Rankings by site has Gold Ridge listed at 3.53 while the next slide entitled Comparing School Summary Rankings has Gold Ridge listed at 3.62. La Fiesta has a higher number 3.93 on the slide that she used to make her recommendation (bar graph) and a lower number 3.87 on the comparison slide. Could this be evidence that the numbers were altered until they reached the rankings that they were looking for?

Jennifer Chesley

FYI

Just wanted to let everyone know about the committee meeting on Monday December 3. It will be held in room 7 at Gold Ridge at 6:00. As we all know this is a community issue and we welcome everyone with the common goal of saving our neighborhood schools. We want to get together to share information that everyone has gathered and prepare for the board meeting on Tuesday. We hope to see you there.

Press Democrat Article

A celebration marking the beginning of Rohnert Park as a "friendly city" played unintended host to a protest by students, parents and teachers of two schools fearing the announced closure of an elementary school next week. The 50th anniversary of the arrival of the first moving vans in the town's first neighborhood was commemorated by a group of 100 that included many of the town's influential founding leaders.They turned out for speeches and handshakes at the town's Girl Scout Hut at Alicia Park to mark the Thanksgiving 1957 event and weigh in on the current state of the city.But about 80 students, parents and teachers turned out in support of Gold Ridge and La Fiesta elementary schools, which have been identified for possible closure."They are celebrating Rohnert Park and celebrating the concept of Rohnert Park as a 'friendly city,' " said Gold Ridge parent Jodie Palmigiano, motioning to the anniversary gathering. "But the whole concept of Rohnert Park back then, to have communities around a park, a pool and a school, that's not what's happening."When the first residents moved into Rohnert Park track homes in 1957, the community was billed as a country club for the working class. On Friday, the town's earliest members recalled it as a friendly place of neighborhood parks and schools, ripe for economic investment and development.But the vigil outside the celebration was a sign that that vision has not become a reality, former Rohnert Park Mayor Jimmy Rogers said."It was the best place in the world to live then. There were all the parks and amenities we needed. There were schools in every neighborhood. But that's a thing of the past now," Rogers said.Rogers was one of five former Rohnert Park mayors at the celebration who saw the city grow from 4,000 people in 1957 to 43,000 today. They remembered mortgage payments of $115 a month, a fraction of what housing costs today.Industry and commerce have changed too, the former mayors said. Shopping centers have come to town in the past 50 years, golf courses have been built, schools and parks been completed."With all the fine qualities we have in our city now, I still remember a time when you could do all your shopping in one location," former Mayor Armando Flores said. "It was a small-town atmosphere back then."Since then, things have changed, Flores said."We are just really suffering now with the declining business environment. We are hurting a lot and we will have to tighten the belt if we are going to be able to survive," he said.Parents at Gold Ridge and La Fiesta elementary schools attended the celebration to let Rohnert Park leaders know that tightening the school's belt would be yet another step away from the Rohnert Park 'friendly city' ideal, Palmigiano said."This is the elephant in the room," she said. "We moved here in 1999 from Marin and didn't plan to come this far north but we liked the idea of communities built around parks and schools. But the bare bones of it is that that's not what Rohnert Park is anymore."You can reach Staff Writer Laura Norton at 521-5220 or laura.norton@pressdemocrat.com

http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20071201/NEWS/712010416/1033/NEWS01